LogFate of Souls-Jason-2

Game log for the 2018/01/21 session of Fate of Souls, as taken by Jason

We sail for Hightower, the main port of the Dreaming Isles, but that's the wrong direction for getting to the battle site. Korin Taelax is working on figuring out the battle site from the book, and the long voyage to Hightower will end in a good price for our cargo and give him time to work. He's using the soulstone in his work, which is giving Weyden an itch. The Sealer isn't a huge fan of Börk's use of a soulstone for recreation, either.

Piro sets a small fire and tries to divine what awaits us in Hightower. Alas, he art is not an exact science, and all she sees is silver and white. Her parents were from Hightower, and she knows it well, so she can at least figure that silver and white are the colors of the High Guard - polished armor with white tabards. She warns Barnaby.

Weyden finds out that Korin's stone includes memories of interviews with survivors of the Battle of Minos Bay. They may contain clues. The Sealer warns the archivist that the stones will chain him to them, but Taelax doesn't understand, or perhaps he refuses to understand. Their argument grows rather arcane, and terminates in Taelax dismissing Weyden's beliefs as "quaint." Weyden leans on him a bit, pressing for him to promise Weyden the stone when he's done with it. Korin does so, but resentfully.

In fact, the Archivist goes to find Ham and reports the entire conversation. He's worried that Weyden might want to also seal all the stones they recover. Ham warns the rest of us. Bartleby isn't too worried, and Hirazoth likes the idea of someone keeping the Archivist nervous. It does lead to a discussion of how Ham isn't formally part of our little quest, a problem Bsrtleby solves by hiring him on as muscle.

Ham then moves on to discussing it with Piro, who doesn't offer a lot of reassurance. Hard to blame a fifteen-year-old girl for not wanting to get between the Purgator and the professional bounty hunter. He then goes to find Weyden and discuss the conflict directly. Just as they're getting to it, the ship seems to hit something.

Bartleby orders all stop, and Hirazoth calls off the wind. Whatever it was felt like it was mobile - perhaps a whale. The crew scramble into action, and Piro sees a greenish-greyish shape in the water, which quickly resolves into a tentacle reaching out to yank someone off the deck. Each sucker on the tentacle has a claw. Kraken! Sea monster! Shenanigans! Barleby rushes to that side of the deck, saber drawn, to try to find off the next tentacle. Each one is the width of a boa constrictor and at least fifteen feet long. It reaches up two tenactles and starts to pull itself up onto the ship. Bartleby swings at it but the tentacle actually dodges.

Ham takes a swing next, but this is one agile sea-beast. The tentacles are always moving around and lashing at things. Bartleby skewers the tentacle that tries to wrap around him, which causes it to recoil. The ship begins to lean over from the weight of the monster upon it. Piro runs below decks. Weyden hears the sounds of fighting and dons his armors. Bartleby continues trying to fight the monstr but can't connect.

Ham concludes that we need heavier weapons, and runs for the scorpion on the back deck. The monster tries to grab him, but Ham dances out of the way before it can grab him. The deck is getting slippery from all the water and blood sloshing around. Piro sees Weyden and helps him get his armor fastened up. Hirazoth runs back on deck. Bartleby can't connect. As Hirazoth gets up to the deck, he's knocked off balance by the need to dodge a tentacle. Bartleby hears a grinding noise, like maybe the monster is chewing on the ship. Weyden emerges on deck, sees the situation, and tells Piro to get a robe and tie it to him.

Piro gets grabbed, but sticks the tentacle with a hot poker to make it let go. Bartleby manages to stab his tentacle and pin it to the deck, but it tears loose. Hirazoth also gets grabbed. Piro ties Weyden to the mast, allowing him to fight without fear that his armor will drown him. Weyden pulps a tentacle with his hammer, and you know that has to hurt. Hirazoth tries to use his arrow to stab the tentacle, but he's not real strong, and its hide is gross and rubbery. Bartleby goes to defend Hirazoth and slices that tentacle open. All of the monster's tentacles are bleeding now, but it doesn't seem to be scared off. The monster pitches Hirazoth overboard, but Hirazoth whistles up a wind and gets blown into the rigging instead. He's wrapped up in rope now and hanging at a funny angle.

Ham fires another scorpion bolt at the monster, and while he almost misses, there's still a big downdraft, which catches the bolt and guides it down into the beast. The grinding noise from the monster's teeth stops... and now we're hearing it roar instead, because it hauls itself on deck. The body is eight or ten feet long, ugly and grey-green, shaped like some sort of pufferfish with tentacles. The bolt seems to have pissed it off. Piro runs to help load. Bartleby fends off the monster. Weyden tries to hammer the body all nice and flat, and the monster counterattacks instead of trying to block him. Now Wayden's trapped, but the monster has to be feeling some pain. Hirazoth can't figure out what's what with these damn ropes. Bartleby can't manage to cut into the nearest tentacle. The monster tries to drag Weyden into its maw while crushing him, but he's armored and tethered.

Ham and Piro finish loading. The monster swings a tentacle at Piro, but the tentacle is slowed because its own claw got stuck in the deck. Ham fires, and this time he sticks it square in the body. The bolt pins the beast right to the deck. The monster again counterattacks Weyden, and they trade damage. Weyden's hammer upswing ruptures something inside the monster, and pinkish-black good starts leaking out of it. Its frenzied attacks become mere twitches.

Bartleby worries about the hull damage the ship took, but there's nothing bigger than a fishing village between here and Hightower. The ship is seeping in several places but there's no water pouring through the hull. He also tells Korin to chronicle our adventure with the beast. The carcass is starting to smell pretty bad, so while Korin has saved bits of it, we're not going to be able to bring the carcass home for study. We cut a couple feet off the end and sear off the end. It writes as Weyden sears it, which only inspires more searing. It's a battle of wills between a Purgator and a dead brainless thing. Weyden wins... in the end. Meanwhile, the rest of the thing is so sticky and ichorous that when the crew dumps it over the side, it sticks, slowing the ship down and attracting sharks. Weyden also works out a way to create flame ammunition, setting other ships' sails on fire.

Hightower is distinguished by its high tower, an enormous lighthouse visible for over 100 miles. When we put into port, we need to sell the cargo, get the ship repaired, tell people about sea monsters, and find a place for Taelax to law low while we careen the ship. Weyden goes looking for other Purgators in Hightower, but they're keeping a very low profile. Hightower has a thriving Dreamsouk, and doesn't want a bunch of guys running around interfering with trade. Bartleby has no problem trading the cargo for extended provisions.

Weyden looks for the hidden messages that Purgators use to communicate with one another, and finds one near the quench barrel of a smithy. It says, "white stoat." He goes to Bartleby and asks if there's a White Stoat tavern, and there is! It's a little seedy, but so much the better. They collect Hirazoth, put first Thurston on the con, and go drinking.

Weyden looks for a burly craftsman, but the biggest guy around is the barkeep. Hirazoth and Bartleby start drinking. Weyden asks the bartender where a skilled craftsman might find work. It takes a little fencing before the guy realizes that Weyden's a member of his order. He tells Weyden to return two bells after sundown. Weyden then tries to leave, but Hirazoth convinces him to stay. They drink! Wayden sees a weedy-looking guy come in with a group of tough fellas, all vests and jodhpurs and tulwars. The weedy guy points at Weyden, and one of the other slaps his hand down. They all come over and ask to hear tell of the sea monster. Hirazoth boasts over it, and Weyden has to remind him of the scorpion bolts. Once he confirms that Weyden is a smith, the guy leans in, pulls a soulstone on a chain out of his shirt, and aks if Weyden is the guy he'd hire to do smith work. Weyden sees the stone and twitches, and then they know. They confirm that our ship needs repairs. They offer money for us to leave town right away. Bartleby is open to that action... but when the guy says that the stone is the only memory he has of his daughter, and Weyden says he dishonors her by keeping it, the fight starts, and coins go everywhere. And just then, Ham comes running in, pursued by four members of the High Guard. Seems he once caught a Guard lieutenant's brother doing something bad and brought him in, and now the Guard genially hate him.

Weyden backs away from the table, hoping the guards won't allow a brawl with drawn steel. Ham tries to run away, and he's doing a pretty good job of it in the tavern. As he passes, he yells for us to run. Weyden tries to shove one of his attackers into the path of the Guard, and does so, taking out the first one. Hirazoth tries to back out of all this, but since he's a little small, he's not opening up much ground. Bartleby smashes a bottle over someone's head, which I think shows an admirable appreciation for the classic works of this genre. The tail Guard yells "stop that man!" to try to slow Ham down. People in this town don't have any love for Ham and they're up for that. Weyden's original accused tries to stab him with a tulwar, and he's indifferent to Weyden's bare-handed counterblow. He sticks Weyden pretty good, but it's not smart to be indifferent to a smith's strength. The guy does down like a falling tree. The Guard catch up with Ham and he surrenders. They take him to jail.

One of the vested guys stabs Bartleby with his tulwar. The Guardman who stayed int he bar runs the attacker through, since they do disapprove of using tulwars in bar brawls. The Guard lieutenant returns and sees Weyden pilfering the soulstone from his attacker while Hirazoth yells at him. He backhands Weyden and yells, "Leave it, scavenger." The lieutenant asks if he's working for the dream merchants, and he tries to go for that, saying that he takes work where he can get it. The Guard sends Ham and the dream merchants to the dungeon. One of the Guard flips Weyden a coin for taking a wound in the line of duty. Bartleby and Weyden go in search of a doctor with Hirazoth.

Piro goes to see her cousin and tries again to divine the future. She sees stone walls and barred windows, and feels that Ham is involved. She does see a little crumbling mortar, which might be important later. She goes to the ship and arrives just as Bartleby, Weyden, and Hirazoth arrive. Thurston is gone. Börk doesn't even know where he went. He was talking to someone, probably from the harbormaster's office, and then he was gone. Piro suggests that we should break Ham out. Callow expresses a certain disappointment at their condition and prescribes some sea salt for Weyden's wounds. He also rubs some salt in Bartleby's wounds. Of course, he really needs to go over the side, into clean ocean water. Bartleby arranges for a dinghy trip out into clean water so he can do just that.

The Guard lieutenant informs Ham that they have something special planned for him.

The only spot we can easily careen the Omdurman is in the shipyards. Convenient!

Weyden returns to the bar, as directed. The bartender gives him a bowl of ale, with something in the bottom. It turns out to be a note, written in grease marker, saying, "Stoat too dangerous, Saganthal shrine." He goes off to the Saganthal shrine, which is one of the highest areas in the city. It's an open circle of seven columns. Not long after he arrives, someone else shows up, and says something nice about the extremely cloudy weather. Wayden tells the guy about our need for repairs and that we have a lead on a whole load of stones. The Purgator says that he and some of his men could pose as carpenters and try to sign on to our ship. Of course, that only works if, for some reason, our ship needs a carpenter. This guy is Aenon and he can be reached through Scogens, the bartender at the White Stoat.

Bartleby goes looking for Thurston, and when he comes back, Thurston has returned. Apparently there was an issue with the harbormaster, but Thurston handled it. Bartleby warns him that once the repairs are done, they may have to bail someone out of jail. Weyden suggests they hire more hands to expedite the repairs, but of course Bartleby knows that the shipyard does the work, not the ship's crew. Börk also says that they can easily get all the sailors they want at the Seaman's Hall. Weyden tries to take it up with him separately, assuring him that they're good in the forge or a fight. Börk sees through what Weyden is trying to do and doesn't want it. Weyden does point out that having more Purgators on board isn't an issue until we have the stones, which would be the hard part, and they could maybe let the rest take care of it. Börk sees some value in that line of reasoning and offers to hire an additional couple of marines, and if they happen to be Purgators, that's acceptable.

Hirazoth ends up drinking alone in town.

Bartleby is alone on the ship when the screaming starts in the stateroom. He runs in and finds Thurston stabbing Korin Taelax. Bartleby goes to the attack. Thurston turns on him, eyes completely devoid of expression, and Bartleby realizes that this is not really Thurston. Bartleby realizes that the assassin is a bette fighter than him and plays for time, knowing backup will arrive. Bartleby switches to a belaying pin as a weapon, not wanting to risk killing this guy, but he's not skilled enough to defeat him. The enemy changes tactics, trying to set something up, but his new gimmick doesn't work on Bartleby, and he ends up pressed into a corner. He goes back to his old method and presses Bartleby hard. Bartleby tries to corner him but can't get any leverage. Sailor Darnell comes running in to help Bartleby, and with his help, the Captain can defend himself more easily, and with Darnell's help, Bartleby has him flanked. The enemy tries to rush through and finish Taelax off, but at two on one, he can't, and then Weyden and Börk arrive. Bartleby shouts for them to take him alive.

Weyden, with help from Börk, bum-rushes Thurston and presses him hard. The assassin tries one last time to get to the archivist in the confusion, but he's too badly outnumbered, and Bartleby disarms him, then grapples with him. He can't get to grips with the guy. The guy shrieks and attempts to rip Taelax's throat out. Weyden tries to stop him but can't get to him, with so many people in a small room. Bartleby sticks his pin into the guy's mouth and bridles him, taking a bite in the process. Weyden tees off on the guy and caves his skull in. Then the Thurston-thing implodes. He was a Hallow Man. Very bad juju. Korin's gurgling and it doesn't look good. Bartleby yells for Callow but the ship's sawbones is not up to this task. As he gurgles his last, Korin points at the desk and pushes the stone at the Captain. Weyden does not like that. Bartleby brings both books over, and Korin bats the old book aside, opens the new book, and points at some symbols and gestures to say that the symbols are switched. They guess he was encoding his translation. "Everyone here, raise your hand if you're a Hollow Man." Thurston was only gone for an hour or so, too, so whoever did this worked fast.